Went through a TMS evaluation as a small carrier, here’s what I found
Saw this thread and figured I’d add something since I just went through this exact search.
Most of what comes up when you search for TMS software for small carriers is either aimed at enterprise operations (so way too big) or it’s too basic to handle anything beyond simple routing. Took longer than it should have to find useful information written for an operation our size.
Two locations, furniture and appliances, two-person crews. Simple enough on paper, complicated enough in practice that a basic route planner doesn’t cut it.
Here’s what I looked at:
Routific is the best pure routing I tested. Handles 50+ stops across different time windows without the manual planning overhead. Accessible pricing for a small operation.
Doesn’t touch anything outside of routing and dispatch but if that’s the main problem it’s a solid answer.
Onfleet is cleaner to use than most. Driver app is probably the best in the category. Very easy for crew to learn, which matters when you’re running a small team.
Same limitation as Routific on the warehouse side though.
OptimoRoute landed in the middle for us. More flexible pricing than Onfleet, solid optimization, does what you need without the overhead. Worth looking at if budget is the main constraint.
Grasshopper Labs is a bit different. It covers warehouse management and dispatch in the same system, so if you’re also managing receiving, staging, and contractor payments, it handles all of that without needing separate tools.
More setup than the others and probably more than you need if routing is the only problem. Worth evaluating if you’re running warehouse ops alongside delivery and want both sides in one place.
Honest summary after going through this: most TMS options for small carriers are either way too simple or way too expensive and the sweet spot is narrower than the marketing suggests.
Keen to hear whether others running small final mile operations have found something that works without the enterprise pricing or the setup overhead? LMK!